With the aim of improving the revenue of the most punitive sector, the Minister of Economy Martín Guzmán will make economic announcements this afternoon, before embarking on his trip to Washington to participate in the spring meeting of the Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Expected to include ads a limited version of IFE intended for monotributists and informal workers to be solved by the new “unexpected income” tax.

After a long weekend confined to Chapadmalal with a good portion of his team, on Sunday night, the minister in Quinta de Olivos met with President Alberto Fernández, reviewing announcements in which they sought to mitigate the effects. of rising inflation, which has so far reached its highest point in 20 years with 6.7% in March.

Finally, the announcements will come this afternoon – it is speculated that he will speak between 4 and 5 pm – and he will do so with the President. As the minister expected in an interview last week, a mechanism is being considered to “redistribute” extraordinary revenues without touching restrictions.

The target is not only the countryside, as speculated at first, but also producers of raw materials such as gas, oil, minerals and grains, among others.that there was a sharp rise in prices after the start of the war in Ukraine.Funds raised will be allocated to “those in need”, a universe smaller than the 9 million reached by Emergency Family Income (IFE) amid the pandemic. The name is still being talked about.

Until now, it is expected that this new bonus, the amount of which is still unknown, will take over monotributist and informal workers.

Regarding the new tax to be launched, the scheme would be different from the allegedly extraordinary income taxed during the government of Raúl Alfonsín, Fernando de la Rúa or Alberto Fernández, who had “extraordinary contributions” during the pandemic. But the initiative is enough to generate new friction within the government.

The Secretary of Agriculture, Matías Lestani, denied on Thursday on Infobae that the producers had “unexpected positive profits”. That same day Guzmán would have asked the Minister of Transportation, Alexis Guerrera, to speed up efforts to end the strike of grain carriers. The conflict put foreign exchange earnings at risk, as large exporters warned him. Guerrera praised and approved a 20% increase in transportation rates.

However, the proposals being made by the Economy Minister have the support of the President, who on Wednesday received a new friendly fire from Vice President Cristina Kirchner from the CCK. “There were some talks, the economic team was working on directives from the presidentand in permanent contact “, they confirmed in Alberto Fernández’s environment.”The announcements will be this week for sure“, they added.

Expected in Washington

According to sources from the Palacio de Hacienda, the trip to Washington will have the purpose of the show apparent progress in meeting objectives and to guarantee the continuation of the program, after Kirchnerism’s pressure to oust the Economy Minister and the blow caused by record inflation of 6.7% in March.

The idea is to take advantage of the summit framework with finance ministers and central bankers to hold meetings with staff, the World Bank and G20 members. Within that agenda, they will not be included the initiatives currently being evaluated by Guzmán’s team to contain the impact of inflation through taxes on the “unexpected income” and the new IFE.

“At the IMF the negotiation is permanent, but it is not a court of authorization or denial of ruleswhich corresponds to the Argentine government, “official sources said. Guzmán was at a meeting from Thursday to Saturday with his team in Chapadmalal, working on measures aimed at regenerating revenue against the impact of inflation, in response in one of the claims driven by Kirchnerism.

Meanwhile, Guzmán will begin negotiations with the IMF in Washington ahead of the review scheduled for May. With his team they believe the first quarter audit can be passed smoothlyunder the premise that the financial, monetary and foreign exchange objectives will be met, in turn dispelling the doubts that have exacerbated the rate hike, the level of currency expansion and the rate schedule.

This last point was clarified in the call for a public hearing on the rates, convened by the Secretary of Energy, Darío Martínez. The official opened the call after the minister’s appearance on C5N, where he warned that the government would negotiate with the people “aligned with heading”.

Guzmán has promised to reduce energy subsidies by 0.6% of GDP, but now he will negotiate changes due to the impact of the war on the price of fuels the country needs to import in the winter. Without exceptional resources like in 2021 and due to the impact of the drought on collection, the IMF asks recalibrate spending and redirect it towards infrastructure, reducing subsidies, shifting to the provinces and social assistance.

Strong discharge from Larreta

Because of the proximity of Guzmán’s included announcements a tax on “unexpected income” and a limited version of IFEHoracio Rodríguez Larreta made a defense against the initiative via Twitter: “Argentina does not support another tax.”

In a series of tweets, the Head of Government of Buenos Aires confirmed that “no margin to generate new taxes for employers”, and he is related to the official initiative. “We will reject it in Congress,” he anticipated.

“Given the National Government’s intention to create a new tax or raise an existing” unexpected income “tax, I would like to clarify that we are completely against it and that when it reaches Congress we will reject it,” he said. was the first of the Buenos Aires Chief’s tweets.

YN